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The US Diaspora Awards will recognize and celebrate well-deserving Tanzanian individuals residing in the US-based diaspora and in Tanzania, who have demonstrated commitment and made distinguished contributions to their diaspora community, Tanzania, and the world. 

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Key Dates: 

Nominations Open: June 15th, 2024

Nominations Close: July 15th, 2024

Public Voting: August 5th-30th, 2024

Review of Nominations by Judges: August 5th-30th, 2024

Selected Candidates Announced: September 28, 2024

AWARD CATEGORIES

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  1. Distinguished Service to Diaspora Award: This award honors an individual who has shown passion and commitment to improving the social and economic well-being of the Tanzanian diaspora in America.

  2. The Diaspora Advantage Award: This award spotlights an individual who has demonstrated ability to leverage their expertise, time, and/or talent to positively impact the lives of individuals, communities, and the nation of Tanzania. This individual has demonstrated the value-add of diaspora to Tanzania.

  3. Under 30 Trailblazer Award: This award recognizes an individual under the age of 30, who demonstrates initiative, drive, passion, and creativity in their chosen career, profession, or venture. They have achieved significant success and opened doors of opportunity for other members of the diaspora.

  4. WISE (Woman on the Rise) Award: This award honors a woman who is thriving in her career, profession, or business. She has demonstrated strong leadership, cares for her community, and inspires and mentor’s other women.

  5. “Jumuiya” Leadership Award: This award recognizes a community organization whose leadership team has exceptionally led a cohesive, stable, and thriving Tanzanian community “jumuiya”.

  6. BOLD (Brave, Outstanding, Leader and Doer) Leadership Award: This award recognizes an inspirational and committed individual who has, in the past, served as a DICOTA leader, and demonstrated exceptional and effective leadership. The leader was a relationship builder, who fostered collaboration and teamwork, mentored others, and championed organizational objectives to achieve long-term success through positive ideas and mission focus.

  7. Inspiring Returning Diaspora Award: This award recognizes a former diaspora, who has returned to Tanzania and lived there for at least the past three years, and is leveraging their expertise, time, and/or talent to create transformative change that directly impacts the lives of individuals and communities in Tanzania (This award excludes employees in diplomatic missions).

  8. Cultural Ambassador Award: This award recognizes an individual who has actively celebrated and promoted Tanzania's cultural heritage and traditions through language, education, art, and entertainment in America.

  9. Tourism Ambassador Award: This award honors an individual who has made exceptional contributions to promoting Tanzania's tourism industry in America.

  10. Citizen Diplomat Award: This award celebrates the significant and beneficial contributions of an individual who is advancing Tanzania's foreign policy and US-Tanzania diplomatic relationships.

  11. Education Excellence Award: This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrates the ability to leverage their education to bring positive change to their personal life, family, community, workplace, and nation-building efforts.

  12. GiveBack Award: This award recognizes a diaspora-owned for-profit business operating in America or Tanzania, who is doing an outstanding job of giving back to the diaspora community or Tanzania, through charitable donations, mentorship, job creation, and/or social impact activities.

  13. Changemaker Award: This award recognizes an individual who is positively championing transformational and system-level impact to improving services, policies, and practices for the diaspora.

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AWARD RULES AND GUIDELINES

 

Eligibility: 

  1. A Tanzanian diaspora based in the USA; or

  2. A former Tanzanian diaspora residing in Tanzania and has a strong connection with the US diaspora community; or

  3. A Tanzanian Community Organization only formally established organizations with at least 50 members.

 

Nomination Process: 

  • Individuals are welcomed to nominate or self-nominate other individuals who have, or community organizations which has, made remarkable achievements in the 13 categories. 

  • Nominators will fill a nomination form with information of the nominee by July 15th, 2024 2:00pm EST.

 

Nomination Review and Selection Process:

  • All nominations will be reviewed by a panel of judges and scored according to the criteria described for the award category. 

  • All nominations will also be voted by US diaspora. 

  • The final selection of the selected candidates will be announced at the 8th Convention of Tanzanian Diaspora in Austin, Texas (September 26-29. 2024). 

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Frequently Asked Questions

 

Eligibility

 

1. Can a non-DICOTA member be nominated or self-nominated for the Tanzanian U.S Diaspora Awards?

Yes. The Awards are open to all current Tanzanian US Diaspora, members and non-members of DICOTA. One award category is dedicated to former US diaspora who have returned home for at least the past three years.

 

2. Can I win a Tanzanian U.S Diaspora Awards even if I do not plan to participate in the Convention in September?

Yes. While we prefer to celebrate you in person, we recognize people may have competing priorities and are unable to attend. Every step is taken to ensure that the Awards are open to all eligible candidates and administered fairly. Winners will need to assign individuals to receive their awards on their behalf at the convention.

 

3. Do the nominees need to have consented prior to nominating them?

Yes, nominees must consent to be nominated.  

 

4. Are leaders of DICOTA eligible for an Award?

Yes. However, they are not allowed to be part of the independent judging panel.

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5. Are judges or members of Awards Committee eligible for an Award?

Yes. However, they are not allowed to be part of the judging panel of their nomination. Judges are assigned to 2-3 categories, and hence a judge does not review candidacy of all nominees. 

 

Winner Selection Process

 

5. Can sponsors affect the outcome?

No. While sponsors do take part in judging, they do not influence the winner selection criteria and process, and policies. The Tanzanian U.S Diaspora Awards Committee, which is composed of volunteer US diaspora, who are members and non-members of DICOTA and who are self-appointed through a community-wide call for volunteers, formulated the winner selection criteria and process, and policies.

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6. Can DICOTA leaders affect the outcome?

No. DICOTA leaders do not influence the winner selection criteria and process, and policies. The Tanzanian U.S Diaspora Awards Committee, which is composed of volunteer US diaspora, who are members and non-members of DICOTA and who are self-appointed through a community-wide call for volunteers, formulated the winner selection criteria and process, and policies. Also, DICOTA leaders are not allowed to be part of the judging panel.

 

6. Is there anything an entrant can do to increase their chances of winning?

Yes. The award selection method includes a review by the judges panel of a person’s qualifications against the set criteria of the respective award category and a public vote. An entrant may influence the public vote by mobilizing people to vote for them. The higher the public vote the higher the score the person receives. However, the public vote counts to one of the total scores. The rest of the scores are from the judging panel. All scores from the judging panel and public vote carry equal weighting.

 

7. Questions on public voting eligibility and process for the nominees.

Details of the public vote will be provided on or about when the public voting process is announced. The Diaspora Awards Committee is currently finalizing an online tool selection that will support integrity of the voting process, including following fair and ethical voting principles.

 

8. Questions regarding the judging panel and process.

Details of the judging panel and process will be provided on or about when the nominations close and the judging process starts. The Diaspora Awards Committee is currently finalizing candidates for the judging panel, who will be publicly announced soon.

 

General Questions

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9. What do Tanzanian U.S Diaspora Award winners receive?

Winners receive a Tanzanian Makonde Carving Trophy; a Certificate reflecting the winner’s name and award category; recognition on the DICOTA’s website and social media; and the winner’s profile featured on The Citizen newspaper. The Tanzanian Makonde Carving is handmade by a Tanzanian Ebony woodcarver exclusively for these awards; it presents our convection tourist theme and celebrates our Tanzania heritage. The woodcarver was selected through a competitive process.

 

10.  How are the Awards financed?

The Awards are a program of the DICOTA and financed from the organization’s income. The organization’s leaders, the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, have the overall financial responsibility for the Awards.

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11.  Where should additional questions on the Diaspora Awards be directed to?

All questions regarding the Diaspora Awards should be directed to this email diasporawards@dicotaus.org. The Diaspora Awards Committee will jointly deliberate the question and issue a response as part of an updated FAQ on a weekly basis.

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